Suba Subramaniam

"The art the students have been producing has been inspired by the science they have learnt, what they experienced during the voyage and their own narratives of being in the Arctic. Unlike school, boundaries between subjects have not been important. Their learning was experiential and in many cases the voyage was a life changing experience"

Youth Expeditions

2007 & 2008 Arctic Expeditions

Cape Farewell has led two youth expeditions to the High Arctic, replicating the model of art and science expeditions for professional scientists and artists.

In September 2007, twelve 15-16 year old students from the UK, Germany and Canada sailed from Longyearbyen to Ny-Alesund (Svalbard) in the Norwegian Arctic on the sailing schooner the Noorderlicht.

In September 2008, 28 young people from the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Northern Ireland, Canada and India, sailed to the west coast of Greenland on the second youth expedition run in collaboration with the British Council Canada.

All the students were selected for their enthusiasm to investigate and communicate climate change. Whilst in the Arctic, the students completed landmark workshops with science and art mentors and each developed a project that explored an aspect of climate change from both a scientific and an artistic perspective.

An onboard media team worked with the students to document all activities. The students beamed back videos and blogs, and talked live to their schools, communicating the global impact of climate change to their local communities. Multimedia installations at Southbank Centre, London and the Eden Project, Cornwall during the expeditions extended the reach of the students’ experience.

The long-term aim of the youth voyages is support peer to peer learning, to create an international educational community which can work together imaginatively, to make a real impact on perceptions of climate change. The students continue to work as youth ambassadors within their schools and communities.